The point was, his career was just starting and the possibilities were endless.
He nodded to himself, happy to have decided something.
He still missed Paige, though. He’d gotten takeout from the Italian place near the office for lunch that day, and the mere sight of the restaurant’s logo on the takeout bag was enough to remind him of her sitting at the corner of his desk, eating and chatting and laughing with him, looking gorgeous and happy. Sometimes he still imagined a future where she snuck dinner into him on nights when he had to work late and they stole kisses in his office, and after, they’d go home together.
He shook his head. That was nothing more than a dream. It was over. She’d made her feelings clear.
He finished work for the day at a reasonable hour, took the subway home, and pet George as he reheated some leftovers for dinner. He was trying to discourage George from getting onto the kitchen counters—George seemed to in particular like licking the kitchen faucet, which was weird—but right now he needed some friendly comfort more than he wanted to shoo George away.
Now that he knew Paige would probably never be coming here again, this apartment felt empty.
A few minutes later as Josh sat on his sofa and twirled noodles around his fork, George hopped up on the sofa and settled against Josh’s thigh.
“It’s just you and me, buddy. What do you think of that?”
George yawned and fell asleep, which wasn’t much of an answer.
Josh sighed and turned on the TV.
Chapter 25
Caleb’s birthday party was at a barbecue place in Gowanus tucked into a side street. Josh found it easily enough. A huge mural of a pig wearing sunglasses and riding a motorcycle took up an otherwise blank wall next to the restaurant entrance.
He was surprised to see Paige waiting at the entrance.
“Hi,” he said as he approached. She had on a pair of cat-eye sunglasses that were cute but obscured her eyes and made it hard for him to read her expression. “Is everyone else inside, or…”
“Actually, I asked Lauren to invite you here a little early so that I could talk to you.”
What was all this about? “Oh-kay.”
“Take a walk with me.”
“Okay.”
Josh didn’t know whether to hope. Part of him dared to, because he’d missed her from somewhere deep in his soul. He’d known they’d see each other here—Lauren had warned him of that in advance—but he figured it would just be like the last time they saw each other. It’d be awkward, he’d make jokes to deflect from how uncomfortable it was to be around her without beingwithher, he’d pine for her but pretend he didn’t, then they’d retreat to their separate homes.
“Did I just see you get out of a cab?” Paige asked.
“Yeah. This neighborhood is all new territory to me, and I didn’t trust myself not to get lost if I took the subway.”
Paige laughed. “All right. You probably missed this, then. Let me introduce you to another Brooklyn landmark.” Paige led Josh down the block and paused when they stepped onto a short bridge. “This, my friend, is the Gowanus Canal.”
“Oh.” The canal itself was almost picturesque. Most of the buildings beside it were industrial, old warehouses, most of which had likely been converted into apartments. The water was quiet, placid. But the smell was… something else. “It’s…pungent.”
“Yeah. I can’t even argue like this is something we Brooklynites are proud of. It’s polluted as hell.”
“If it didn’t smell like eggs someone left to bake in the sun, this spot might even be pretty.” There was something out of time about this spot, but wow, that smell. “Nope, it smells to gross. I hope this was not where you wanted to go.”
“No. There’s agreatice cream parlor just up the block. Are you gonna ruin your dinner if you have a little ice cream now?”
“No. There’s always room for ice cream.”
It wasn’t that Josh didn’t appreciate this little tour of Brooklyn, but he wanted Paige to cut to the chase. His patience wore thinner as they walked up the block.
The line at the ice cream parlor wasn’t too long, but there were enough people in front of them that Josh had plenty of time to peruse the lengthy menu. Today, there were sixteen flavors available, plus two nondairy options. “Maple bacon ice cream?” he said.
“I don’t recommend. I mean, ask for a taste so you can have the experience, but it works better theoretically than it does in practice. The bacon isn’t crispy enough and ends up with this weird leathery texture.”
